Keeping 11 players on field not as easy as it sounds

Ben Earp / The Star
One of the most important things that assistant coaches do in high school football is helping keep the right personnel groups on the field at required times, avoiding penalties and costing teams one of their precious timeouts.

By Clark Leonard

Published: Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 07:15 PM.

If you look closely enough during a high school football game, you’ll see several assistant coaches counting the number of players on the field before a kick.

Occasionally they’re yelling out which groups are going in and coming out between plays. Other times they’re motioning for a 12th man to come off the field before the snap to avoid a penalty.

In more frustrating instances for those coaches, they burn one of their three timeouts in a half because the right group wasn’t on the field.

Such is the important nature of substitutions and getting the right personnel on the field. After all, teams are aiming to find advantages for themselves.

“You always try to create a mismatch,” Burns wide receivers coach Ian Cooper said. “And if we can create a mismatch, then we want to try to make sure we’ve got the right personnel.”

Chris Emery, who coaches Shelby’s running backs and inside receivers while also helping with special teams, said his fellow coaches up in the press box with cards listing the player groups are vital. They can call down to the other coaches to alert them of problems.

“That way, if we know somebody’s missing, we know who to grab real quick,” Emery said.

If you look closely enough during a high school football game, you’ll see several assistant coaches counting the number of players on the field before a kick.

Occasionally they’re yelling out which groups are going in and coming out between plays. Other times they’re motioning for a 12th man to come off the field before the snap to avoid a penalty.

In more frustrating instances for those coaches, they burn one of their three timeouts in a half because the right group wasn’t on the field.

Such is the important nature of substitutions and getting the right personnel on the field. After all, teams are aiming to find advantages for themselves.

“You always try to create a mismatch,” Burns wide receivers coach Ian Cooper said. “And if we can create a mismatch, then we want to try to make sure we’ve got the right personnel.”

Chris Emery, who coaches Shelby’s running backs and inside receivers while also helping with special teams, said his fellow coaches up in the press box with cards listing the player groups are vital. They can call down to the other coaches to alert them of problems.

“That way, if we know somebody’s missing, we know who to grab real quick,” Emery said.

Crest defensive backs coach Reggie Ross said injuries can shake up the well-made plans of coaches’ player groupings if they aren’t noticed immediately. That makes it crucial for trainers to let coaches know who’s hurt.

Emery said special teams is particularly tricky in making sure the coaches find the backup of an injured player so they’re not a man down on fourth down. Most of that comes down to the chart and who was listed next going into the contest.

Each of the coaches noted communication as a vital part of making sure each player is in the right spot.

In Cooper’s case, he and fellow assistant Joe Rempson are responsible for relaying to Burns head coach Matt Beam the personnel on the field so he can make the proper play calls.

“The biggest thing is the coaches communicating who’s on the field, who’s going in, who’s going out so that when a play is called, we’re able to call that play knowing it’s going to be successful and give our players a chance to execute,” Cooper said.

Ross said one of the best ways to avoid problems with substitutions is by having a certain group be versatile enough to run multiple defensive schemes. That limits the number of players going in and out.

“We try do a good job of that so we don’t confuse kids with having to run in and off the field,” Ross said.

Having guys who play both offense and defense, particularly defenders running offensive plays in short-yardage situations, adds another layer of attention to detail. Emery and Cooper said they keep those players close by in case they’re needed in a hurry.

It’s the time of year, too, where having players in the proper spots in the allotted time can make the difference in winning and losing.

“That’s one of the things we cannot be doing is wasting timeouts because we’re not getting the right person in and out,” Cooper said. “Especially going into the playoffs, those timeouts can be very valuable.”